SPG- No That Kind, but the The Starwood Preferred Guest

We had to explain to a rather serious looking CHARLES ABBOTT, Regional Vice President - South East Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, Managing Director – Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel the meaning of the acronym SPG with which we grew up. That salacious Singapore girl with long black hair, low cut dress and always draped on the arm of some Caucasian man....yeah, the Sarong Party Girl, now probably deemed highly politically incorrect, but nevertheless, a formative part of our social history.

This SPG is nothing quite so tawdry, it stands for the STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST card, its function outline in the press release provided at the end of this article. But, to launch the new concept SPG, a lovely lunch for the media, press and bloggers, because everything revolves around food in Malaysia, and how best to launch a program such as this, if not by highlighting the various cuisinal delights that the Starwood hotels in KL have to offer. We were indeed to have the highlights from Westin, Le Meridien and Sheraton Imperial, over a delightful if not over filling lunch.

Delicious hors d'ouvres and canapes from all the three hotels, with such delights as wagyu beef, foie gras dumplings, yam puffs, ...heck, we were full on just the finger food alone. I loved the presentation, in particular the shrimp in a can.

And for the main lunch, we were treated to Starters from Westin, (Chef Garth Welsh, Director of Kitchens at the Westin), an absolutely stunning Prawn, Haloumi, Watermelon & Pomegranate Salad.




The mains, (we were already stuffed with the appetizers and prawn starter), Roasted Beef Tenderloin by my favourite jolly chef, Chef Antoine Rodriguez, Chief Executive Chef of Le Meridien. Read about the awards recently achieved by Antoine at Pure Glutton's Post HERE. The tenderloin was perfect, succulent and moist, and the accompaniments were equally as satisfying.


Poached oyster blade in clear consomme, fresh goats cheese in a beetroot jelly tube, (my favourite), braised beef cheeks in a hollowed carrot trunk. This dish doesn't only look beautiful, but tastes likewise too. It makes the phrase, "how now brown cow" rather redundant. Lots of beefy goodness served in various creative ways.





That's the goatcheese in beetroot jelly roll that is absolutely amazing.

Desserts were a quartet of delicacies from Chef Rajesh Kanna of Sheraton Imperial. The signature tiramisu from Villa Danielli, Chocolate Cake from Essence, Chilled Mango Cream with Pearl Sago from Celestial Court and Black Sesame Macarons from Toastina. I liked the Chilled mango cream the best, as the slight tang was refreshing after such a gloriously heavy meal.






The Chefs equivalent of the three heavenly kings....
Kudos for a fabulous food coma inducing meal.

For more information on the SPG privileges and benefits, Check out their website HERE.




PRESS RELEASE
STARWOOD REINVENTS HOTEL LOYALTY LANDSCAPE
WITH FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND BENEFITS
FOR GLOBAL MEGA TRAVELERS

Starwood Preferred Guest Launches Richest Elite Traveler Benefits in History Including 24-Hour Check-in, One-to-One Starwood Ambassador and Lifetime Status

Services Aimed at Small but Powerful Group Who Drive 30% of the Company’s Profit

Stamford, Conn. – February 1, 2012 – Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) is raising the stakes in the hotel loyalty landscape to win greater share from the world’s most prolific travelers, a powerful and growing group of global mega travelers. The company announced today new benefits that make its award winning loyalty program Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) the richest elite program in the industry. The more SPG Members stay, the more choices are available and the more personalized the benefits become with standouts like lifetime status, first-of-its-kind 24-hour check-in and a dedicated Starwood ambassador who provides one-on-one service to uniquely tailor the guest experience.

“With globalization trends, there are more mega travelers than ever before going to more places around the world,” said Frits van Paasschen, President and CEO of Starwood. “The opportunity to cultivate what we call ‘loyalty beyond reason’ with the world’s most frequent travelers has never been greater. These are sophisticated consumers who have become jaded by generic points and perks. This is why we’ve invested in distinct new and personal benefits to truly reward those who reward us with a disproportionate amount of their business.”

Three Year Pilot Aimed at Most Profitable Travelers Inspires New Changes
According to van Paasschen, just two percent of travelers drive 30 percent of Starwood’s profits. With that in mind, the company spent the last three years quietly piloting a highly personal one-on-one ambassador service to better understand the needs and desires of these very powerful guests. Across the small, select sample of travelers, Starwood saw a double-digit share shift compared to a control group. Starwood took insights from this pilot to develop new benefits aimed at its elite Members.

“What we heard loud and clear from travelers was that they wanted more choice, more control and more personal service,” said Mark Vondrasek, Senior Vice President, Distribution, Loyalty & Partnership Marketing. “Today, through high touch and high tech, we have a newfound ability to better understand our guests, their preferences and even the nature of each unique trip. By delivering a whole new definition of choice and personal services, we’re moving beyond a purely points arms race to instead build loyalty for life.”

Good-Bye 3 p.m. Check-in – Hello Your24TM
Turning an ancient hotel convention on its head, Starwood is for the first time ever abolishing the industry’s long-standing 3:00 p.m. check-in time and giving its most frequent travelers control of their own arrival and departure time. Your24 lets Members choose their own 24 hour check-in and checkout time. For example, a guest who checks in at 10 p.m. won’t have to check-out until 10 p.m. on their day of departure. The Your24 program is offered to SPG Members who spend 75+ nights at Starwood hotels annually.

Ultimate in Personal Service for Most Prolific Travelers
Building upon its successful pilot program, Starwood is expanding its innovative one-to-one service which matches its best travelers with personal ambassadors. Now, all Members who stay 100 nights annually are invited to participate in this unique service designed to provide the ultimate in tailored experiences across all 1100+ Starwood hotels. What separates this from a traditional travel concierge program is the unique personal relationship between Member and ambassador. Starwood’s ambassadors work one-on-one with guests to understand their preferences and what matters to them on each trip to deliver a customized experience on property. Ambassadors also provide services beyond the hotel and are even empowered to assist guests when they’re not traveling.

Starwood to Reward Loyalty with Lifetime Status
To show its appreciation for its most loyal and enduring travelers, Starwood Preferred Guest is introducing SPG LifetimeTM status. Now Members who have stayed 250 nights total and maintained elite status for at least five years (consecutive or not) are awarded SPG Lifetime Gold status. Members with 500 total nights and 10 years of Platinum SPG status (consecutive or not) will enjoy their top tier status for life.

The Lowdown on Loyalty: Starwood Enhances Benefits for all Elite Members and the More You Stay, the Richer and More Personal it Gets
“Our goal is to make SPG so rich that it’s impossible for mega travelers not to choose Starwood,” said Vondrasek. “We also want to make the program wildly aspirational for all frequent travelers. And because we know that many of our Members are also Members of other hotel loyalty programs, we believe these upgrades give travelers a compelling reason to consolidate their travel with us. With this in mind, we have enriched all of our elite offerings, ratcheting up the proposition as Members stay more.”

o SPG 100 Nights Benefit: After crossing the 100-night threshold, SPG Members are paired with their personal ambassador.

o SPG 75 Nights Benefit: After spending 75 nights with Starwood, Members earn four Starpoints for every eligible U.S. dollar spent. Members also get access to Your24 to control their check-in and checkout time.

o SPG 50 Nights Benefit: At 50 nights, Members will receive 10 Suite Night Awards ™ to use for room upgrades. Suite Night Awards are confirmable five days prior to arrival.

o Platinum Members (25 Stays or 50 Nights Annually): now have the option of complimentary breakfast as part of their welcome gift at check-in. Platinum Members can also choose from bonus Starpoints or a local gift.

o Gold Members (10 Stays or 25 Nights Annually): now receive a welcome gift at check-in and can choose from bonus Starpoints, complimentary in-room Internet access or a complimentary beverage.

To learn more about these exciting SPG changes that give Members more control over their hotel experience visit spg.com/morepower. All benefits begin March 1, 2012.

SPG Gets a New Look Inspired By Actual Members
To celebrate its new benefits, SPG is updating its brand identity with a new look inspired by the rich personalities of its Members. SPG conducted a casting call for Members to participate in photo shoots with famed portrait photographer Alessandra Petlin. The inspiring photos will be prominently featured in all SPG communications and collateral including more than 90 million member communications a year. The first photo shoot took place in New York and features the Chatwal, a Luxury Collection Hotel, W New York - Times Square, W New York – Downtown, Aloft Harlem, The St. Regis New York and Sheraton Tribeca.

Visit spg.com/members to hear personal stories from these Members about their relationship with SPG. Additional casting calls are taking place around the world in 2012. Follow SPG on Facebook.com/spg to learn about the latest locations.

About Starwood Preferred Guest
The SPG program’s breakthrough policy of No Blackout Dates at the world’s most sought after collection of hotels, reinvented the hospitality loyalty program when it launched in 1999. By creating a program centered on its Members, SPG has developed the most passionate and knowledgeable membership base in the hotel loyalty space. Through its use of new technologies and innovative channels such as SPG.com, SPG.com/stayconnected, SPG.com/flights and others, SPG continues to innovate and lead the industry. By offering No Blackouts on standard rooms at over 1,000 hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries, No Blackouts on hundreds of airlines, and once in a lifetime experiences available through SPG Moments at spg.com/moments, the program has proven to be a big draw for the world’s most frequent travelers, and a significant competitive advantage for Starwood. For more information about Starwood Preferred Guest please visit SPG.com.

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1071 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. The company boasts one of the industry’s leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com

Prego at The Westin

Now, if the WIFE had bought me these shower gels, I'd have suspected foul play was ominous. Afterall, it would seem like she's preparing to marinade me and perhaps cook me.... check out these delectable flavours...Lemongrass & tamarind, Tomato & tangerine, Mushroom and Ginseng!!!!, Spearmint and Bamboo.....

However, it was not the Wife who bought it, but me myself, from Boots in Bangkok. They have such a nice range of shower gels, and I have a shower gel disorder. Since we should be on austerity drive, Body Shop has been kicked out of the equation.... L'Occitane was never really within my league, and neither was Origins, etc... So the Boots options are good and relatively cheap. Can't wait to marinade myself....

On Saturday, we headed to Prego for friend's birthday dinner. Had brought along these cupcakes, as one of the other dinner mates had ordered them for her daughter's birthday.

Me not being a cupcake person, these were made specially since the orderer is an OLD dear friend....Chocolate Chip Cupcakes....and also Oreo Mousse Cakelets...the photo was shocking so I didnt bother putting it up.

First up was the bread....plebian me asked for butter, although the olive oil balsamic mixture was rather palatable, as was the salsa dip. The bread was yummy. We were also hungry.



Wife's salt crusted sea bass was the first to arrive. We saw them shucking the salted sea bass, and heard her say, Oh Dear I hope that's not mine! But it turned out good.

The clam chowder is very rich, and creamy. Could stand a spoon in it. Good stuff for a cold wintery night. (so we're in the wrong country) Meanwhile, a commotion ensued at the next table, as a large fat cockroach was roaming free, and I guess mat salleh's are a bit less tolerant about wild fauna roaming the restaurant floors. Eventually, the man tracked it down all the way to the wall, and squished it with a napkin and presumably brought it to show the manager. Very Victor Victoria. Wonder if they got a free meal?

The mushroom pizza was superb. A thin crust, slathered with mushroom paste, and some roughly chopped up mushrooms. Very subtle. Must try to make.

Friend's carbonara. Looked too rich for me. I cannot finish a carbonara pasta by myself these days.


A smoked salmon pizza.... Not so good. The carnivores were saying AIYA, MUSHROOM PIZZA ONLY AH? WE NEED SOME MEAT. Big mistake. firstly, coz everything came out together, soup, starters, dessert, mains, (ok, no dessert), we became full very fast. Secondly, the smoked salmon was actually a bit fishy.....



The Deaf One had carpaccio.... with rocket.....it was good, apparently.

I forgot to check what this was, but it looked like an aglio olio with a prawn.....no complaints there. Looked quite good.

My roasted rotisserie duck in balsamic sauce. Very good. At first it looked HUGE, the portion, but we then realised the duck's bone structure is a lot more complex than that of a chicken, and there was a LOT of bone. The meat was bordering on the tough side, but tasty and gamy. I guess if one wanted soft tender duck meat, just eat Chinese Siu Ngap. It was a pity it was served with polenta. I'd much rather have had wasabi mash or something.

Hotels are becoming more kiasi these days. If you take away food, you have to SIGN an indemnity, clearing them of all responsibility if you keel over and die from food poisoning..... I thought this was rich, considering the vermin cockroach that was running around earlier on as if he owned the hotel..... the same applies for birthday cakes brought from outside. Have to sign indemnity.....

So, I signed the indemnity for the pizza, but decided to accept their free mud cake rather than serving our own cake, and having to sign more paperwork.

I used my Starwood group dining voucher, with a 25% discount, and the meal came up to RM420 for six people. Pretty reasonable I thought.....even without discount, it'd have been RM530 thereabouts. Not to bad huh!

Cosmopolitan Virgin No More

For some bizarre reason, I was SURE that the invite for the Champers Brunch was at Iketeru. There we go, to one of KL's most expensive carparks, where the security guards make a half hearted feeble attempt at checking your car for bombs, only to find out to my horror, that I had misread the invite. It clearly stated, "lunch at PREGO"..... gosh, I must be getting senile. That was RM6 down the toilet (amongst other things, by the end of the day)....

Oh, be warned people, credit card companies have now started charging an outrageous exorbitant amount of 1% for late payment. (over and above finance charges). So for a balance of 3k, you'll be paying RM30 late payment even if you're a day late. Daylight robbery I tell ya.

Fortunately, Sunday traffic at noon is fairly smooth flowing, and we had intended to start drinking early, afterall, it WAS champagne brunch....so even after the wrong venue fiasco, we still arrived at Prego at the Westin in good time. In fact, apart from the host, and birthday girl, we were the earliest guests. Nothing like a nice cold glass of Laurent Perrier to calm one's nerves down.....

The buffet spread is quite elegant. Waiters come round with platters of stuff, like Penne Ariabiatta, Squid Ink Pizzas, Squid Ink Pastas, and you can walk around and help yourself to the buffet starters, the usual oysters, prawns, etc etc.

Platters of meat from the barbeque section are also available. The baby back beef ribs were tender and falling off the bone.

The barbeque chicken was also tasty and succulent. But really, I was more interested in the bubbly stuff that was by now making me rather happy for a Sunday afternoon.

This aglio olio was delicious, and I love that we can choose teeny weeny portions like this for taste. Should be easy enough to replicate at home. Lemongrass could probably do this for her bald eagle's wednesday dinners.

Ah, although personally I prefer Proseccos for day time drinking, I guess who am I to object if its French. Actually at RM198++ per head, for the champagne brunch, it makes sense to try and finish an entire bottle on your own, as I think each bottle costs about RM200. I may have succeeded, but I think the wife kinda pulled down our average.

More stuff from the BBQ, the most divine and tender roast lamb. It must look like we were awfully carnivorous, but actually I was too lazy to move around the buffet to photograph, and these platters were conveniently placed in front of us. I don't remember eating very much actually. It's amazing how filling champagne can be on its own.

The dessert selection, I have to say, was not very impressive. Everything looked good, but nothing really tasted good. (somehow on a day when the mind is sharper, and not dulled by residual alcohol, I think that preceding line would have been followed by an analogy vaguely relating to something political, or government). What's the cantonese saying? Hou tai mmm hou sek. Nice to see, not nice to eat.

So since dessert was dismal, we decided to go back for starters.

Nah, kidding. Just that I was too lazy to rearrange the pics.

This tart looked promising. Chocolate Pear. Again, nothing to shout about.

I was soooo excited when I saw that roll thing, which they labelled as Canelloni, but I'm pretty sure its a canoli. I have only ever seen it on Everybody Loves Raymond, and have been dying to try it. The minute I plopped it onto my plate, I could hear the alarm bells of regret. First, the cream looked too white, and that can only mean one thing. FAKE NON DAIRY CREAM!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH! Might as well put me on a torture rack!!!

Okay, the ice creams were good, and the freshly baked chocolate souffle was also very good. So if you go for the desserts, stick to those items.

At about 2.15, I saw the neighbouring table get a round of what looked like Cosmopolitans. (apparently known as Cranberry martini). Having just watched Sex and The City the night before, I thought OOOOH, I MUST TRY!!! Not bad, cocktails are free flow too in this buffet. So we ordered a round of them. Well, hence the title of this post.

Verdict for the cosmos, its a chick drink la.

This time we were wiser, and approaching 2.30, when all free flow ceases, we kinda stocked up ......

One of the other guests had brought these cupcakes for the birthday girl. The only thing I remember was that the buttercream was laced with Cointreau. However, after 8 or 9 glasses of champagne, and 2 cosmos, a buttercream laced with Cointreau is like putting a drop of brandy into a cauldron of dodol.

Oh, what a painful Sunday evening. Trying to stand upright at family dinner and pretending to maintain some form of sobriety. Such are the trials and tribulations of life.